Saturday, June 18, 2011

The Chronicles of Courage - Part one

Sometimes, victory doesn't seem as sweet....

A couple of days ago, just before going to sleep, I went to brush my teeth. As a precaution, I switched on the light in the bathroom first and waited a few minutes before going in. I finally went in with my brush in hand, thinking I'd given the cockroaches in there enough time to go back to their hideouts... But alas...

I opened the door, and there it was... One of the biggest cockroaches I'd ever seen. And with wings! If there's one thing worse than a big cockroach, it's a big cockroach which flies. At least, that's what I think.

And thus began my war with the cockroach. Despite my fears, I tried pouring water over it, but it managed to escape all my attempts. So, with Machiavellian cunning, I just closed the door, hoping it would get back to its hole if it valued its life. But it didn't. When I opened the door again, the roach had fallen into the water and was trying its best to swim out.

I was now in two minds. Whether to have pity on it, and help it the way the bird helped the ant; or whether to hope it would die. In the end, my pity lost out. And the roach died.

And I told this to a friend, and he was "impressed" by my courage.

Now this friend, AJ, had already been exposed to my "courageous" self. We were returning from a wedding dinner, when I heard a dog barking somewhere in the distance. Not being scared at all, I made a slight change to my walking trajectory, and walked as far away from the dog as I could without falling into the ditch next to the road. And observant as he was, AJ commented upon it :)

So, when I told him about the cockroach incident, he called me "courageous" and "brave". (And I felt like singing "AJ hit it", pleased to know there was one soul in the world to call me 'brave' :P (Yay!!! I've managed to insert a line from a song I used to listen to years and years ago!!! :D ) )

(I seriously doubt if he'd have made such a comment if he'd known the barrage of messages coming his way :) )
And thus rests the victor, seeking new territories to conquer, and new fears to overcome :)

* - the part one in the title makes it seem like there will be more such episodes of bravery in the future... :D